My wishlist for DoCoMo's Spring/Summer 2012 collection

[patrixl]

Well I was all set on getting a new phone when I returned to Japan, but I guess I'm going to wait after all and try to get more than 6 months of use out of my SH-13C If at all possible...

So, looking at the Fall/Winter collection, there's no phone yet that has everything I want. Here's what I would love DoCoMo to provide in the next update:

- 4" - 4.5" HD screen; yes 1280x720 please
- Waterproof, dustproof
- oneseg, osaifu-keitai, infrared
- machi-chara
- 1500mah+ battery

Ok so far I can get that already but... I'd have to sacrifice one of the following features:

- LTE (F-05D has it, but I'd have to sacrifice wireless charging)
- wireless charging (Sh-02D has it, but it's basically an SH-13C which I have, + a sliding keyboard)
- dual-core (SH-02D, T-01D, F-05D have that, but I'd have to sacrifice wireless charging and LTE)

Optional but I'd jump on it IF it had all the above:
- flip form factor, slider form factor if it feels good in the hand (SH-02D is slider, but... see above all that it's missing)

Besides, LTE is still a battery drain, so might as well wait...

We'll see if I can resist once I'm in Japan though! No wonder people are calling me a keitai addict (or rather a phone-wh*** ).

What are your expectations/wishes for the next iteration? I know some of you care more about the look of the phone, and for people living outside Japan the LTE probably wouldn't work anyway, so I'm sure many of you will have a very different wish list...

[cheeseus]

If only DoCoMo would release a flip keitai running Android... I realise screen size can't really be pushed much further than 3.4-3.5 inches so I guess this would do. Of course Sharp can easily make that qHD (960 x 540) or why not the resolution found on the 931SH -- 1024 x 480 on a 3.8-inch screen (a prototype of the SH-02D).

Alternatively, I'd be quite happy with a QWERTY slider with 4.2+ HD screen (well, happier than now, because with the 005SH I can't use 3G/HSDPA carrier internet and the RAM/ROM are quite insufficient). I am curious to hold the SH-02D in my hands to see what a vertical slider this big feels like.

A dual-core processor would be great and 1 GB of RAM is a must - please have at least 520 MB user-accessible!

Sharp seem to never offer enough ROM storage on their mobile devices, ever since the Zaurus, all their mobile devices have insufficient ROM size - pease let us have at least 2 GB free, I'm not greedy!

A larger capacity battery will be truly appreciated.

Two of the three carriers in Bulgaria have just began LTE tests and expect to have the network up and running in major cities by mid-year but HSDPA/HSUPA would be juuuust fine -- Only twice was my 005SH able to connect to the 3G network when I first booted it and downloading apps from Market I got 2.5-3.0 MB/s download speed, which is perfectly good for me.

[patrixl]

If only DoCoMo would release a flip keitai running Android... I realise screen size can't really be pushed much further than 3.4-3.5 inches so I guess this would do. Of course Sharp can easily make that qHD (960 x 540) or why not the resolution found on the 931SH -- 1024 x 480 on a 3.8-inch screen (a prototype of the SH-02D).

Yeah a flip keitai with a 3.5" screen, ideally 3.7", qHD would be great. If they can fit HD and Android 4.0 it'd be better, simply for the improved handling of UI elements. qHD on a 3.7" (SH-13C) does bother me a bit with some fonts or elements too small...

Alternatively, I'd be quite happy with a QWERTY slider with 4.2+ HD screen (well, happier than now, because with the 005SH I can't use 3G/HSDPA carrier internet and the RAM/ROM are quite insufficient). I am curious to hold the SH-02D in my hands to see what a vertical slider this big feels like.

A dual-core processor would be great and 1 GB of RAM is a must - please have at least 520 MB user-accessible!

Sharp seem to never offer enough ROM storage on their mobile devices, ever since the Zaurus, all their mobile devices have insufficient ROM size - pease let us have at least 2 GB free, I'm not greedy!

I'm not a big fan of qwerty sliders. I'm all for touchscreen keyboards because they're so versatile with various languages. Portrait sliders interest me a bit because it seems very helpful for using the device as an actual phone

1GB of RAM is a must, and at least 2GB of ROM (I think you mixed up both kinds of memories in the quote above). I don't know where you get that Sharp doesn't include enough ROM, my SH-13C has 2GB, which is good enough for today's apps - may not be good enough in a year or two. SH-01D includes 1GB of RAM and 4GB of ROM. I think they're finally keeping up with the times.

A larger capacity battery will be truly appreciated.

Two of the three carriers in Bulgaria have just began LTE tests and expect to have the network up and running in major cities by mid-year but HSDPA/HSUPA would be juuuust fine -- Only twice was my 005SH able to connect to the 3G network when I first booted it and downloading apps from Market I got 2.5-3.0 MB/s download speed, which is perfectly good for me.

Even if you do get LTE in Bulgaria (or other countries), there's no guarantee yet that the antennas/bands will be compatible with the ones found in the Japanese phones. We're back to that again, where we'll have to check for those details, like before quad-band GSM or tri-band/penta-band WCDMA become some sort of norm. I say it's gonna be a mess for a few years...

[aquabelic]

More colors! I wouldn't mind something outside of white or black and maybe even some designs resembling the non-android japanese flip-phones that don't make it appear like just another android phone like ones by HTC and Motorola, and this coming from a guy.

[yamanote]

SH-12C/SH-13C has 2GB ROM, but oddly my 007SH has less than 1GB of ROM free.

Processor is a bit slower and has less RAM too (I think?) but it is actually faster than my SH-12C. Maybe because it only has to power a WVGA display, not qHD.

[cheeseus]

1GB of RAM is a must, and at least 2GB of ROM (I think you mixed up both kinds of memories in the quote above).

Ummm... what did I get wrong?

A dual-core processor would be great and 1 GB of RAM is a must - please have at least 520 MB user-accessible!

RAM is the operating memory - my 005SH comes with 512 MB, I can "see" 147 MB used and 110 MB free when the phone is sitting idle (well, just opening the Settings panel takes up 10-15 MB). My brother doesn't get more than 60-80 MB on his SH-12C. If I'm not mistaken, Tokyo_dom has about 50-70 MB free on his 005SH.

Sharp seem to never offer enough ROM storage on their mobile devices, ever since the Zaurus, all their mobile devices have insufficient ROM size - pease let us have at least 2 GB free, I'm not greedy!

And here I'm talking about ROM, the on-board storage memory. 2 GB of ROM is I suppose sufficient. How many megs do you get free of these 2 GB? My brother has about 1.1 GB on his SH-12C.

If you look at all earlier Sharp smartphones (check out my special site in my signature), you'll see that Sharp have always been quite tight with ROM storage. My W-ZERO3 has 128 MB but I can only "see" 81 MB, where 24 MB are "free" -- and the RAM here is 64 MB, where 43 MB I can "see" and because I've killed the Willcom radio, I can get the unbelievable 18 MB of free RAM (can reach up to 21 MB immediately after reboot). But then again, that was as good as it gets for the beginning of 2006!

The EM ONE (S01SH) was "much" better - 512 MB on-board storage (ROM), where about 400 MB were free, and the RAM was 128 MB, where about 70 MB were free. That was just about average for 2007. I've done a lot of reading about earlier Sharp smartphone and everyone is saying how great they are but for the scanty ROM storage.

Compare these figures with any contemporary smartphone by Samsung or HTC - you'll see they normally get double the RAM / ROM of any Sharp model. Latest phones by other makers come with 8-16-32 GB of ROM, which is way beyond anything Sharp have ever released.

SH-01D includes 1GB of RAM and 4GB of ROM. I think they're finally keeping up with the times.

Ahem... Galaxy S II comes with 16 GB of ROM, 1 GB of RAM, Galaxy Nexus comes with 16/32GB storage, 1 GB RAM, the HTC Evo 4G has much less - 4 GB ROM, 768 MB RAM, the Rezound - 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM, the new Sony Experia S will have 16/32 GB, 1 GB RAM. I say Sharp are seriously behind the rest in respect of ROM. But I still love them and they're my favourite brand

[patrixl]

Ummm... what did I get wrong?

RAM is the operating memory - my 005SH comes with 512 MB, I can "see" 147 MB used and 110 MB free when the phone is sitting idle (well, just opening the Settings panel takes up 10-15 MB). My brother doesn't get more than 60-80 MB on his SH-12C. If I'm not mistaken, Tokyo_dom has about 50-70 MB free on his 005SH.

Right, I had forgotten RAM is also "partitioned" somewhat... I get about 50-100MB free on my SH-13C. I thought you had mixed up RAM and ROM's definitions, because ROM also has only a limited amount that is accessible for apps/data...

And here I'm talking about ROM, the on-board storage memory. 2 GB of ROM is I suppose sufficient. How many megs do you get free of these 2 GB? My brother has about 1.1 GB on his SH-12C.

Yep, about the same on SH-13C. The rest was used up by the system and so on.

If you look at all earlier Sharp smartphones (check out my special site in my signature), you'll see that Sharp have always been quite tight with ROM storage. My W-ZERO3 has 128 MB but I can only "see" 81 MB, where 24 MB are "free" -- and the RAM here is 64 MB, where 43 MB I can "see" and because I've killed the Willcom radio, I can get the unbelievable 18 MB of free RAM (can reach up to 21 MB immediately after reboot). But then again, that was as good as it gets for the beginning of 2006!

The EM ONE (S01SH) was "much" better - 512 MB on-board storage (ROM), where about 400 MB were free, and the RAM was 128 MB, where about 70 MB were free. That was just about average for 2007. I've done a lot of reading about earlier Sharp smartphone and everyone is saying how great they are but for the scanty ROM storage.

Compare these figures with any contemporary smartphone by Samsung or HTC - you'll see they normally get double the RAM / ROM of any Sharp model. Latest phones by other makers come with 8-16-32 GB of ROM, which is way beyond anything Sharp have ever released.

Only the most recent high-end offerings from other companies have 1GB of RAM; as for ROM, remember that until the Galaxy Nexus it was partitioned between internal storage and "usb storage" aka a fake SD card. So you'd still get about 1-4GB reserved for system, data and apps, just like on the SH-01D..

Case in point, Nexus S: 16GB ROM? Well.. 1GB for internal storage, the rest for "USB storage". Right, it's not high-end anymore, just an example...

Ahem... Galaxy S II comes with 16 GB of ROM, 1 GB of RAM, Galaxy Nexus comes with 16/32GB storage, 1 GB RAM, the HTC Evo 4G has much less - 4 GB ROM, 768 MB RAM, the Rezound - 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM, the new Sony Experia S will have 16/32 GB, 1 GB RAM. I say Sharp are seriously behind the rest in respect of ROM. But I still love them and they're my favourite brand

Apart from the Galaxy Nexus which has everything on one big partition, the rest are partitioned off like I explained above. Sharp (and HTC) are probably cutting costs by letting the user add an sd card of their desired size...

At least they're not still putting 512MB :P THAT would be considered behind the curve.. 4GB is "ok" for now.

[cheeseus]

...as for ROM, remember that until the Galaxy Nexus it was partitioned between internal storage and "usb storage" aka a fake SD card. So you'd still get about 1-4GB reserved for system, data and apps, just like on the SH-01D..
...
Apart from the Galaxy Nexus which has everything on one big partition, the rest are partitioned off like I explained above. Sharp (and HTC) are probably cutting costs by letting the user add an sd card of their desired size...

Oh, that's something new for me, I had no idea. Um, why does it say then in the specifications that a separate microSD of up to 16 GB can be used beside the available onboard storage?

Just re-checked the new Sony Xperia specs and it says "Card slot: NO". But this is what I read for the Samsung I9100 Galaxy SII:

Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 8 GB included
Internal 16GB/32GB storage, 1 GB RAM

Or maybe I'm failing to understand this partitioning thing... it's 6:50 am, and I'm still having my first sips of coffee

[patrixl]

Oh, that's something new for me, I had no idea. Um, why does it say then in the specifications that a separate microSD of up to 16 GB can be used beside the available onboard storage?

Some phones (like Galaxy S 2) have an internal storage partitioned between system (/system /data /app /cache /sdcard etc) partitions AND also can take an SD card for even more storage (never having owned an S2 or one of those Honeycomb tablets with sdcards I'm not sure how they fit into the filesystem layout).

So a phone like the Galaxy S2 would still have a limited amount of ROM for system and apps (ie, 2GB) and 6GB (on the 8GB model) partitioned to /sdcard (unless an S2 owner counters what I just claimed, I'm just basing this off my Nexus S and stuff I read). Then add an actual sdcard which gets mounted under /sdcard/external_sdcard or something like that just to complicated stuff a lil' bit!

Galaxy Nexus has no SDcard slot, and has everything in one big partition so 16GB = 16GB total for system, apps, data, and all the other files that would normally go on an sdcard - exactly like the iPhone does it. It's how my LG Optimus Pad did it too and most Honeycomb devices (afaik they would mount the sdcard under /sdcard2 , but again I'm not sure how that would all work out).

[Yttrasil]

Soo, is this enough? 0.1inches too big screen for you though
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/ex...e-3564122.html

Quad core and stuff, thought it had windows 7.5 too but that was another phone qq =( Duo 4.0 android and windows would have been the sickest.

[patrixl]

Soo, is this enough? 0.1inches too big screen for you though
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/ex...e-3564122.html

Quad core and stuff, thought it had windows 7.5 too but that was another phone qq =( Duo 4.0 android and windows would have been the sickest.

Hopefully it will have wireless charging.. Or another one might.

[cheeseus]

Quad-core @ 1.2 Ghz... brrrrrr... my PC is quad core, well it's @ 3.1 Ghz but with these rates it'll soon be as fast as a typical fast smartphone LOL
But how much RAM has this beast got? I'd expect 2 GB.

I wonder what such a processor speed might be used for... Watching a 10+ GB Full HD movie or playing a fancy game? Yeah, it sure makes sense to put the four cores!

[patrixl]

I wonder what such a processor speed might be used for... Watching a 10+ GB Full HD movie or playing a fancy game? Yeah, it sure makes sense to put the four cores!

I'll tell you what these monster CPUs are used for: feature lists. Spec wars. More checkboxes on comparison charts between phone A and phone B. ... sad but true...

[martindesu]

Impressive specs, but couldn't look more boring in my eyes!

[cheeseus]

I'll tell you what these monster CPUs are used for: feature lists. Spec wars. More checkboxes on comparison charts between phone A and phone B. ... sad but true...

Yeah, the feature lists "reason" is clear, I was hoping there was some official reason for utilizing such a processor other than that. "Because we can" isn't any good a reason.

Impressive specs, but couldn't look more boring in my eyes!

Nothing special on the outside, indeed. Unattractive!